February 21, 2006

From My SkyNews Appearance

Yisrael Medad, one of the founding members and former Mayor of one of Yesha’s oldest communities – Shiloh – was filmed on the British network Skynews yesterday in his hometown, together with a Peace Now representative. Medad says that he can understand the Palestinian Arabs’ desire to have a national anthem, “but not every small group of people deserves a state… They are not going to be the 23rd independent Arab sovereign state.”

Medad said that we must “take the long view: This is the heart of the Jewish homeland, the land that was promised to us not only by G-d, but also by the international community… Prime Minister Barak made a more-than-generous offer three years ago, but the Arabs refused, because they’re not interested in compromise or in any resolution of the conflict that would leave any Jewish communities [here].”

Yariv Oppenheimer of Peace Now said that Israel must freeze all construction in Yesha and dismantle all outposts. Medad protested: “We are not the reason for the conflict. There were no [Jewish] ‘communities’ before 1967, yet the war broke out, and terror on the part of the Arabs existed. So we’re not a reason for the conflict. Dismantling us will not solve anything.”

Medad also contested the claims that Jews had taken Arab land: “We built our community on an empty hill that was not occupied for over 2,000 years. This is our land. It’s the most natural thing for a Jew to be living in Shilo. We can live in co-existence as long as there is no terror or violence… They could have had a state in 1947, [but now] I am not willing to go back in time and say that even though they lost the war, they can [have what they wanted].”